A study was conducted to estimate the growth and stock characteristics of the Sardinella maderensis (Lowe, 1838) from Sombreiro River of Niger Delta, Nigeria. Results obtained revealed that mean total length and the mean weight of S. maderensis ranged between 4.1cm to 18.5 cm and 5g to 55.5g respectively. The b value of the length-weight relationship was 2.58 thus, the species could be categorized as displaying allometric negative growth and condition factor was very high, it ranged from 3.04 to 4.43. The estimated von Bertalanffy growth parameters (VBGP) of L∞, growth coefficient (k) and age at zero length (t 0) were 23.31cm, 0.54 and-0.03/year respectively. The species showed year round recruitment patterns having two peak periods during April and July. The total mortality (Z) was 2.74 year-¹., the natural mortality rate (M) and fishing mortality (F) were 1.32 and 1.42 respectively. The estimated fishing mortality (Z-M=F) stood at 0.518. The lengthbased index of growth performance (Ø'phi prime) for S. maderensis was estimated at 2.46. The length at first capture L 50 was 27.31 cm. The exploitation rate (E max) was 0.421 whereas (E 0.1) was observed to be 0.355 indicating that that the level of exploitation is already high and to obtain the maximum sustainable yield, the present level of fishing effort should be reduced through appropriate fishing regulation techniques..

Fish catch composition of some selected small scale fishing gears (gill net, cast net, beach seine and long line) were investigated in Bonny River, Rivers State, Nigeria from August 2014 to January 2015. A total number of 25 fish species from 18 families were recorded during the study. The Mugilidae with only one species constituted the dominant family while Cichlidae, Lutjanidae, Clupeidae, had three species and Scianidae had two species of fish caught and the remaining families had one species each. Mugil cephalus constituted 28.48% of the total catches followed by C. nigrodigitatus (22.48%). In the dry season M. cephalus forms the major component landings (32.65%), followed by C. nigrodigitatus (26.53%) and S. galilaeus (12.24%) while in the wet season M. cephalus (31.06%), C. nigrodigitatus (18.63%) and T. zillii (11.80%) were the dominant fish species. Cast net was the most efficient fishing gear while gill net was the least efficient. The comparison analysis between the wet and dry seasons using t-test showed no significant difference between dry and wet seasons (t = 0.092, P > 0.05).

Nigeria is endowed with extensive inland water bodies that are very rich in fish and shell fish many of which are of commercial importance. These diverse fish resources with immense potential plays contributing role to the food security and improving livelihoods of local fishers, but in recent years, there has been serious concern about the poor status of the inland capture fisheries. Overfishing has been recognized as a major threat to sustainability of the fisheries. Overfishing has brought about changes in species composition, decline yield and fish stocks are being threatened with depletion because of ineffectiveness and weak regulations. This paper elucidates and analyses the causes, signs and types of overfishing in the inland capture fisheries in Nigeria. It also highlights current management measures, reasons for management failure and some of the procedure that could be adapted for sustainable management of inland capture fisheries.

The aim of this study was to analyze fish species caught by gill nets and fish diversity of the New Calabar River. Three sampling stations were set based on the coverage situation of the river and ichthyofauna associated with gill nets were sampled twice monthly from February to July 2018. A total of 3,251 fish specimens, representing 11 orders, 15 families, and 28 species, were captured. The order Perciformes was identified as the most abundant representing five families while the remaining had one family each. The fish family Cichlidae was the most represented with seven species, and other notable families were Alestidae, Clupeidae, and Mugilidae, representing three species each. Prominent among the fish caught monthly included Liza falcipinnis, Mugil cephalus, Sarotherodon melanotheron, Sarotherodon galilaeus, Coptodon guineensis, and Sardinella maderensis. The mean catch per unit effort (CpUE) ranged from 3.15±0.2 to 4.85±0.2 kg unit-1 day11. Results of diversity indices revealed that Shannon-Wiener index values varied between 2.64 and 2.82, Simpson diversity ranged from 0.07 to 0.10, and Pielou’s evenness index values ranged from 0.85 to 0.95. The values obtained in this study showed that the status of fish diversity in New Calabar River was stable.

| This research was carried out to investigate the length-weight relationship and condition factor of Coptodon guineensis from the New Calabar River and Buguma Creek, Nigeria. Assessments of the length and weight parameters indicated that the total length ranged from 12.4 cm to 29.8 cm with a mean value of 17.84±0.40 and the weight varied between 41g to 640g in subject collected from New Calabar River population. In Buguma Creek, the total length ranged from 10.9 cm to 23.5 cm with a mean value of 14.99 ± 0.26 and the weight was from 21g to 520g. The b value varied between 2.96, which were recorded for New Calabar River population, and 3.28 that was observed for Buguma Creek population. However, the condition factor of C. guineensis from Buguma Creek was significantly (p<0.005) higher than New Calabar River. These results demonstrate that the well-being of the species was slightly better in Buguma Creek than New Calabar River. Collectively these findings confirmed the ability of the species to thrive in brackish water and freshwater, and that these parameters support the assessment of the well-being of different fish in different locations.